The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs
"The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs" is the eighth episode of the seventh season of Friends, which aired on NBC on November 23, 2000. A beaming Rachel is happily surprised when her assistant Tag shows up at the gang's Thanksgiving dinner. Phoebe sneaks a puppy, named Clunkers, into the apartment, forcing Chandler to confess that he is afraid of dogs. Plot It's Thanksgiving and Rachel has invited her assistant Tag over for dinner. She learns that his girlfriend has just dumped him that morning and debates whether or not she should make a move. Joey gives away that Rachel likes him, and while Rachel tries to explain, Tag sees his car being stolen and runs off. Phoebe, staying with Monica and Chandler after the fire in her own apartment, secretly keeps a dog in her room that she is watching for some friends. Everybody thought Chandler was allergic to dogs but the truth is that he has a lifelong fear of dogs. They bring the dog to Ross's apartment because Chandler can't handle it being there, but Monica secretly sneaks it back into the apartment. To cover for Monica, Ross tells Chandler he can't go in the bedroom because Monica's crying over Chandler making the dog leave. Chandler goes to Ross's to bring the dog back and make Monica happy, and when it's not there he thinks the dog escaped and goes all over the apartment looking for it. After Chandler reveals a game where the player has to name all fifty states, noting that everyone always forgets a few, Ross becomes fixated with completing the game before he allows himself to eat any of Thanksgiving dinner after he is only able to name forty-six. Over the course of the evening, he remembers a few other states, such as when Tag mentions that his girlfriend went back to Ohio, but even after working until midnight, he only reaches fifty states by naming Nevada twice. Tag eventually comes back and finishes the conversation with Rachel, ending in them kissing. Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Greene Courteney Cox - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Eddie Cahill - Tag Jones Crew Directed By: Kevin S. Bright Written By: Patty Lin Trivia *This is the second time Phoebe has looked after a dog. Previously she looked after a puppy belonging to Phoebe Abbott in "The One With Phoebe's Uterus." *It is revealed in this episode that Ross doesn't like ice cream. This is probably why he said "Let's go get some frozen yogurt or something" to Rachel in "The One Where Ross And Rachel Take A Break." Despite this, in "The One After The Superbowl" and "The One Where Ross Dates A Student," he is seen eating ice cream, first with Marcel and the next time with Elizabeth (Although it may be that he simply brought the ice cream for Marcel and didn't want to make himself look foolish in front of Elizabeth). *This is the second time that Phoebe was somewhat subtly disguised under the alias of "Phyllis". The first time this happened was when she wrote about Monica and Chandler in "The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad." *In the uncut DVD version of the episode, an extra scene shows Chandler go to Ross's apartment to get Clunkers. When he can't find the dog, he looks at the open door and assumes Clunkers escaped. *In previous episodes (since Ugly Naked Guy lived there), it's shown that Ross' apartment is at least 1 floor lower than Monica's, so it shouldn't be possible to look inside Monica's place from Ross' place (Monica sees how Rachel is sitting in the couch feeding the dog). Ross and Phoebe only discovered Monica and Chandler's relationship because Monica and Chandler were right by Monica's window having sex. *Ross includes Phoebe when listing "four educated adults and Joey," even though it's been previously established that Phoebe never even want to high school before she was homeless. However it's possible that Phoebe has picked up some education as she's fluent in both French and Italian. Also she attended literature class with Rachel and later Monica. *In a previous episode, when Chandler doesn't want to spend all his money on the wedding, he describes to Monica how their life would be with that money, including saying that he wants a cat, but Monica says "By cat you mean a dog, right?" and he agrees with her without saying anything about hating dogs; most likely Monica didn't know about his alleged allergy at this point. *Surprisingly, Rachel is able to find 48 states even though she isn't usually pictured as really smart. Perhaps her knowledge stems from dealing with orders at Ralph Lauren. *When Joey says "don't do it," the ensuing laughter stems from the blooper when Joey moved his hands apart in a larger fashion. *When Rachel is talking to Tag, the content of her thoughts regarding falling in love for life are probably about Ross rather than Tag. These thoughts likely contribute to her sleeping with Ross later in the season. *Tag's description of his 12 month on-off relationship with his girlfriend is reminiscent of Ross and Rachel's on-off relationship which enters it's next phase at the end of the season when Rachel becomes pregnant. *Rachel and Tag start dating in this episode (despite her friends advising against it) but they break up in six episodes after Rachel realizes she wants a proper relationship after turning thirty. Tag wants to start things up again in "The One With The Red Sweater" but by then Rachel is pregnant with her and Ross's daughter. *Ross demanding he finish naming the states before eating Thanksgiving is a callback to when Ross and Monica refused to let go of the football to eat Thanksgiving in "The One With The Football". *At one point Chandler is playing with a slinky. Ross tried to give one of these to Rachel in "The One With Phoebe's Dad" in a failed attempt to patch things up. Goofs *When Ross says "she just ate a treat out of my hand," you can see Phoebe hiding her laughter by burying her head inside the dog's fur. *When Joey tries to help Ross find the 50 states, he tells Ross that he can't just make stuff up (referring to Utah.) As a lifelong fan of the New York Knicks, he should have known at the very least that Utah is a real place, as the Utah Jazz are an NBA team that plays against the Knicks at least twice a year. However since he found 56 states, it's possible he wasn't aware that Utah was a state. *When Tag says "you don't like puppies" Rachel is standing forward of Tag but in the next shot they're next to each other. *Two of the states that Ross forgets are Ohio and Delaware. It is highly unlikely that someone living in New York would forget two states located near their home state while remembering almost all the others. External links * The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs at the Internet Movie Database Episode Navigation Category:Season 7 Category:Friends Episodes Category:Episodes with Chandler's name in the title Category:Holiday Episodes Category:Episodes Category:Season 7 Episodes